“We need to remove all ‘Pillars’ in order to be able to reach Tartarus’ true body, but as soon as all Pillars are eliminated, or if the nightmare world has sustained enough damage, the nightmare world would go on defensive.
“It’s a mechanism built to defeat anyone who was able to shake the nightmare world,” Kane said.
“You know an awful lot.” Neo pointed out.
“It’s because I’ve fought Tartarus. After my wife died, I went on a rampage and destroyed Pillars of Layer 2, Layer 3, and Layer 4. I was defeated in the end though.”
The reason no one remembered Kane’s rampage was because time had been turned back.
The only people who had memories of that time were Kane himself and those on Tartarus’ side.
Neo held a weird expression.
Did Vlad remember that?
Because if he did, what the fuck made him think he was stronger than Kane.
‘That guy really had some screws loose.’
Something told Neo he would meet him again in the future.
Shaking his head, Neo calmed his nerves.
“Where is Tartarus’ true body?”
“In a different Layer. The access to it only opens when the nightmare world has been weakened greatly, by which I mean, all Pillars and several Layers have been destroyed.”
“I see.” Neo nodded. “Let’s start.”
Kane summoned a sword.
It looked normal, yet it had a unique presence around it.
If Neo had to say what about the presence was special it would be that the presence was similar to Obitus, and the sword Nicolas was wielding.
Waves of enemies rippled around Kane.
Sword, O Sword,
Cut mine enemies.
Kane’s hand blurred for a split second, and his energy spiked during that short moment.
“It’s done.”
Kane exhaled.
Just then, Neo saw the top of Layer 4 sliding off as if it had been cut.
Layer 4, the giant black hole, was cleaved into two halves along with the nightmare tree on Layer 3.
Neo looked around.
Kane’s slash started from inside Layer 4, and it cut Layer 4 and the Nightmare Tree, which contained Layer 4 and Layer 5, from the inside in an instant.
The Grand Expedition members on Layer 3 were shocked when they saw the giant tree toppling.
Two figures flew out of it.
“Should we go directly to the subconscious nightmare worlds in Layer 5?”
“There is no need. They can leave the subconscious world now since the nightmare world’s breaking apart, so they will come to us.”
While Neo and Kane waited in the sky, Neo sensed ‘someone’ coming out of multiple subconscious nightmare worlds that were present on Layer 5 – inside the nighmare tree that Kane cut moments ago.
The arriving figures combined into one.
“I suppose last time’s beating wasn’t enough for you, seeing how you are trying to get beaten again.”
The man smiled with the face of his father.
But now Neo knew it was Tartarus who was controlling that body, and the body itself was created from Shadow Core concept.
At the same time, the sky started to change. A titanic amount of energy gathered there.
“I’ll send my clone to protect everyone,” Neo told Kane. “Can you stop the interferences from nightmare world while I fight that ‘guy’?”
Neo pointed at the man, the Pillar of Layer 5 that was formed by combining all Pillars.
“You will be alright alone?”
“Yup.”
“Got it.”
Kane shot towards the sky.
Thanatos – Neo’s Intent Clone – dashed towards the Grand Expedition and began to send them inside Neo’s Cosmos.
Neo and Tartarus didn’t move.
They stared at each other.
A smile broke into Tartarus’ face.
“To be honest, I’m still surprised. A Concept of Darkness that is irritatingly strong, an ability to copy any technique, and you yourself being a Heavenbreaker.
“I never thought that my disgraced son could have all that,” Tartarus said.
“Stop that farce. Both of us know you aren’t dad.”
“Now, now. How are you so sure about that? I have the same appearance, soul, seed of existence, and Intent as—”
“Do you realize how much you are insulting dad by impersonating him, and ruling a world like… this?”
Tartarus’ smile disappeared.
“This world is just, Neo Hargraves. Stop treating it as if it is a mistake.”
“If it’s not a mistake, then what is it? Can you say your judgment was right for everyone who was in Layer 4? Can you say all of them were criminals?”
“Yes, they were all filthy beings who committed evil,” Tartarus said. “Just because a mother stole to feed her child doesn’t mean she isn’t a robber.
“Intentions do not matter.
“What matters is the result.
“The mother is evil because she stole the food that the stall owner worked hard to bake. She took others’ fruit of labor.
“And just like that, the people imprisoned here are evil,” Tartarus explained.
“I guess talking was never going to work with you,” Neo said.
“Indeed, for my values are not so weak that they will be shaken by the words of someone who has not founded his own justice yet.”
…
Kane floated from the sky.
A powerful burst of energy surged from him and formed a barrier around Neo and Tartarus.
He adjusted his stance, and kept his eyes ahead.
The Nightmare World was beginning to move.
Kane knew the Nightmare World couldn’t die.
There was only one way to defeat it.
You would need to fight the Pillars, and destroy them, then defeat Tartarus’ true body to stop the nightmare world.
Last time, Kane had been unable to do that.
He was besieged by the nightmare world and the Pillar from Layer 5.
‘This time I have an ally, and Severent.’
‘I won’t go down as easily as last time.’
He repeated the words to himself, trying to calm his nerves.
Severent hummed in his hand.
The sword had a unique ability. It divided existence. By doing so, anything could be weakened.
Even the Great Elder Dragon Nyxtharion the Evernight had fallen to Severent’s unique ability.
The sky suddenly shifted.
Shadows materialized beneath it into shapes with no clear faces, half-made bodies, wrong proportions.
Kane moved before they reached him.
One step. One swing.
Severent carved the nearest nightmare in two.
There was no blood or scream. Just a clean cut that divided the creature into two halves.
Another came from his left. Kane ducked, rotated his torso, and stabbed backward. Severent split it again.
The resulting creatures were too weak to be a threat.
Hundreds of more creatures followed.
They poured from cracks in the sky, spilled from folds in the clouds, slithered through air that should’ve been empty.
Kane walked forward. His boots landed on the invisible air as he moved.
He advanced higher, pushing into the sky. As he climbed, the nightmares followed, leaping, flying, dragging themselves along unseen threads.
He raised his blade with one hand. Black light gathered along the edge.
Demon Sword Technique: Crescent Rend
He slashed in a wide arc.
The air split.
A curved wave of energy burst out, deep black with a violet edge, sweeping through the incoming horde.
Everything in its path divided.
Dozens of shapes fell apart mid-flight and scattered like broken reflections.